Chirikof Island, AK

We have arrived back at Chirikof Island which is about 60 miles southwest of Kodiak Island. The island is desolate, treeless and uninhabited (other than a herd of feral cattle). Earlier this week, I went out to the island with a crew, to install a base station. We left the ship at 14:00 and arrived back at 17:30. One concern we had regarding the installation was the herd of feral cattle. We were told that they can be somewhat aggressive. Another concern was getting onto the island. There were few places that are safe for the skiff to land. We ended up trying out a few different spots before deciding on one. Not only did we have to get people off the boat, but also a lot of heavy equipment.

View of Chirikof Island from the ship

Chirikof Island - The pin on the north side indicates where we installed the base station

Base station on Chirikof

BASE STATION INSTALLATION
The point of installing a base station is to provide Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS) data to support three-dimensional positioning.  This will work in collaboration with our tide gauge to give us accurate information that will help us record and correct or data properly.



Provided by NOAA



Diagram of a base station setup - provided by NOAA

There aren't many good landing spots on Chirikof Island. Our coxswain had to drive head on (at a 90 degree angle) to the island in order to let us off the bow of the boat. This became a bit problematic with the waves. Luckily we all made it safely along with all the equipment needed.

The first good location we scouted was immediately tossed due to this cow...staring at us. We didn't want to risk getting in their way, especially without any weapons or any kind of defense. Not only did he stare at us, but he followed us when we decided to find a different location to land. Since the watch cow wouldn't leave, we finally decided to go much further north.

Feral cow on Chirikof Island

We got lucky with the weather. It ended up being a fairly nice day (especially considering our location). Chirikof tends to get very harsh weather.

GETTING ON LAND
Here are a few pictures to show how we had to get off the skiff. Two of my crew mates jumped off first while I handed them our gear in between wave sets. It was not a simple task and was often interrupted by crashing waves.

Yes, that is a huge pile of kelp.

Finally on land...our coxswain waited for us to set up the base station.

SETUP
Once we got on land, we got right to work on our installation. First we set up the tripods, installed the antennas, attached the batteries and solar panels, hooked up the computer, etc. It went relatively quickly. We used large rocks and logs to secure our equipment.
Side note: The cows left us alone the entire time we were on the island.

Bart and Doroba leveling the tripod

Doroba setting up the solar panels

Our base station

Level tripod

SURVEYING
Yesterday I got to go out on a launch to run some crosslines. That means we drove over a  certain area in a linear fashion while collecting multibeam data. (Instead of filling in an entire polygon). I learned the setup of the computers on the launch, how to manipulate the RESON multibeam to make sure we were collecting accurate/valid data, and how to transfer all the files off the launch to the ship.

I have also been spending some of my time learning more about processing and cleaning data. There are so many steps to go through in order to get an end product. This is why I'm very glad I have extended my internship through the fall semester. There is so much to learn.

Using Caris Hips and Sips software to correct and clean data

After a long day of work, many of my shipmates have been fishing off the fantail. One of these days I will get out a kayak and go explore the area.

Halibut caught off the fantail of the Rainier